Art & Shapes

A couple of weeks ago I snapped some pictures of Evan working on a coloring/shape worksheet. He really enjoyed naming the shapes, choosing which colors to use, and playing with his new paint pens. I kept the "art" he created, and really wanted to make a page using the pics + photos. Here is the result:



A close-up of the journaling:


I love my new Ali Edwards/Technique Tuesday stamps :-)

Tomorrow we...

...are watching the WSU basketball game
...are having steak & potatoes for dinner
...could possibly be taking a trip to see the planes at the "or-part" (Evan's way of saying "airport")
...will be relaxing :-)

Graduation Mini Album

Abby graduated from high school 2 1/2 years ago, and I hadn't gotten around to scrapbooking the event... until today! I started a mini album on Tuesday, and finished this evening.











I caught this moment between Mark and Evan today... Evan didn't want Mark to go to work, so he asked for extra hugs & kisses, and finally resorted to barricading himself in front of the door to keep Mark from leaving. It was cute & very sad at the same time :-)



And one more of the monkey...



Happy Friday!

New favorite photos...

...of our little guy.



...and this one:


I asked him to show me his belly button :-)

...and this one:



He and I had the evening to ourselves (Mark was bowling), so we worked on some basic number, shape, and color skills. He loves to do "school" activities...work books, number & color recognition, etc., so we did that for a bit. Evan is all about number flashcards, which I hope is a good sign :-) He likes to put them in "order," which sometimes isn't numerical, more random. He seems to know the system he wants. He gets particularly grumpy when I try to change his cards for different ones. Today he was making "stairs" with his cards, in a diamond pattern. He shows a little bit of his mama's OCD at times...everything a certain way. I think he is rather meticulous for his age, especially when it comes to sorting & stacking & organizing little things.

Did anyone notice the number to the right? 100 days until my due date. Yikes! Not feeling ready yet. Not feeling like we can have this baby in the next 3+ months. I'm sure I'll get there...but just not yet. Still need to go through Evan's baby clothes, wash and put those away...get out the swing and bouncer... so much to do! I'm sure everything will get done, I'm just feeling a little rushed & unprepared at this point.

Tomorrow is Friday. Halleluah! Looking forward to the weekend.

Thinking of You card...

Mark's Grandpa had an emergency appendectomy a couple of days ago, so I thought I would send him a "thinking of you" card to help him feel better.


All supplies are from Stampin' Up! except jewels, which are from Michael's.

Nothing much going on around here. We are getting used to Mark's new school/work routine, trying to get out of the house while the snow is gone, and doing a lot of arts & crafts projects. Evan has taken an interest is painting, especially with these paint pens he got in his stocking at Christmas:



Hopefully we are headed to Pioneer Center tomorrow morning for some much needed running & jumping time. They have made their gym available to kids Tuesday and Thursday mornings for an hour, just so they can get out & play. I am looking forward to a good nap tomorrow afternoon :-)

Peace.

Fresh out of a bath...

Thought I would post a pic of our little guy, fresh out of a bath & right before bed.

Stampin' Up! "Love You Much" card...

I know it's a little early to be making Valentine's cards, but I couldn't help myself! My order from Stampin' Up! came last week, and I was so excited to play! I love pink and red, so this was easy :-)



Happy Monday!

Pages 3 & 4...

...of Evan's digital album. You can see pages 1 & 2 here.






Had an OB check-up today. Everything is looking & sounding great with baby Taylor. I actually gained weight this visit, which my doctor is very happy with. I love not having daily morning/day/night sickness :-) I'm a much happier person, which my husband can attest to!

Date night tomorrow, which makes me super excited. We are going to Winger's and to see 7 Pounds with some friends of ours. Really looking forward to a night out.

That's it! Have a fantastic Friday :-)

Potty-training...with some success.

We started potty-training Evan on Saturday. My goal is to have him most of the way trained by the time baby #2 is born, but we'll see. He really hasn't shown a great deal of interest in wearing big boy underwear, or going potty on the toilet, so I have been procrastinating a bit. We went to Wal-Mart Saturday afternoon to pick up some incentives (cars) and a potty seat for him:



We didn't have any success going potty until Sunday, but he earned two cars for his efforts!


He was so proud of himself & talked about his new "pissin' cup Lightnin' Queen" car for the rest of the day. He hasn't really wanted to go yesterday or today, so we will give another go tomorrow. He does a lot of sitting on his potty chair without much going on. I have a feeling this is going to be a l-o-n-g process, but that's why I stay home, right?

Today's photo, peachy cheap, etc...

Today has been such a busy day! We just have a lot of stuff going on around here before Mark heads back to school on Monday. I cannot believe his three week vacation is almost over. We are going to miss him when he is working and taking classes. It's always a bit of an adjustment for Evan and for me.

Have you heard of Peachy Cheap or Flowers and Flourishes? They sell scrapbooking products at a significant discount, and only one item per day. When it sells out, it's gone, and they will have a new deal the next day. So far I haven't found anything I have to have, but it's fun to check and see what the deal-of-the-day is! *I have them linked in my Places to Go... sidebar. For some reason Blogger isn't allowing me to post a link directly from their names above*

This is going to be my Project 365 photo for today. Finished a layout with photos from 1989! I used Ali's Studio A column in the February CK as inspiration.



I thought I would share these photos of Evan and me. Evan really wanted to talk on the phone, so Mark dialed our house from his cell phone, and talked to him for a few minutes. Then he handed me the phone and I talked to him, too. Evan was sitting at my computer desk & I was in the family room, just chatting with my boy! I checked the minutes on Mark's phone, and our total conversation was over 10 minutes. He was telling me about his cars, where his blankie was, what he was doing, etc. Evan usually isn't much of a phone talker, so I was surprised how long he conversed with us.





I hope everyone has a great weekend. Hopefully we will be relaxing & enjoying our last two vacation days.

Butterflies

Earlier in the year I created a wall/window hanging of butterflies, inspired by Ali Edwards' weekend creative challenges. They have been happily hanging in our family room window for awhile now, and I caught this picture of their shadow this afternoon:



(This is going to be my Project 365 photo for 1/8/2009)

I know, not as cute as the little munchkin, but I thought I should mix it up a bit.

Finished the layout I was working on yesterday:



The journaling reads:

Sometimes life with a two-year-old doesn't go as planned. Putt-putt golf was one of those moments. It just wasn't a great experience for any of us, unfortunately. Evan tried really hard to use the club Tacoma Firs provided, but it was too long. He was more interested in throwing the golf balls at Grandpa than actually golfing. My dad would take his turn, then Evan would run after the ball, pick it up, and hand it back to him... before it got to the hole. I spent most of the time running after Evan as he escaped the course and took off into a neighboring field. All in all, not a successful outing. Rather stressful, actually. I was really disappointed that Evan wasn't more focused, that he wasn't more into the game. But you know what? There is always next year.

I am off to bed. Been a busy, busy day. Evan was extra-sassy this afternoon when our lunch guest was here...I think the "terrible twos" have finally set in. He is great most of the time, but man can he turn on a feisty attitude! He mimics everything and everyone, including pointing/wagging fingers (from me), and stern talking-tos (from Mark). I'm thinking a few visits to the time-out chair might be in order!

Looking forward to a sass-free Friday...

Digital Quick Pages

Back in July when I first started to dabble in digital scrapbooking, I purchased Ali Edwards' Digital Quick Pages cd. I figured it would be an easy way to complete a 20 page album using Adobe Photoshop. I finally started the album tonight, and I am thrilled with the results. I am using the "quick pages" as a starting point, but adding digital brushes and stamps on top of them to make it more personalized. I love the concept of the book: Your Story. I am finding photos of Evan that represent his "everyday" life.

Here is the title page:


(quick page: Ali Edwards Digital Quick Pages CD. digital stamp: Ali Edwards Hello Life Title & Journaling Blocks; Designer Digitals. fonts: CK Ali's Handwriting and Courier.)

And Page Two:


(quick page: Ali Edwards Digital Quick Pages CD. digital stamp: Ali Edwards Hello Life Title & Journaling Blocks; Katie Pertiet Postmarked New Years 2009 Brushes; Designer Digitals. font: Courier.)

I'm also working on an all-paper layout, which hopefully will be done tomorrow. I am playing with paint, a Heidi Swapp mask, and some ghost letters that have been in my stash entirely too long.

Looking forward to lunch with a friend tomorrow.

Our last few days of vacation before Mark goes back to school. It's been so nice not to worry about homework & deadlines & missing my husband because he's gone so much. We are not going to know what to do with all our spare time when Mark graduates & starts working. I can sense some serious family bonding next December/January. I cannot wait.

Going digital...

...again. Trying out some new things on my computer. My parents were generous enough to get me Adobe Photoshop Elements 7.0 for Christmas, so I've been playing with that a bit this evening. Once again I have been referring to my August 2007 KOTM from Creating Keepsakes, the Digital Scrapbook Sampler, for reminders & inspiration. Jessica Sprague does a fantastic job of making digi scrapbooking easy understand. I am not an expert by any means, but I do feel like I know my way around Photoshop because of her tutorials. I love that I can listen for awhile, then pause while I follow her directions. When I'm ready to continue, I simple hit "play" and I'm on my way again.

This layout is a digital quick page by Ali Edwards. It is also on the KOTM disc. I was not thrilled with a lot of these photos taken at the park on this day, so this layout is a great way to include them on a page, but not really focus on one particular photo:


The original "quick page" included the circles & the "be playful" title at the top. I added my photos, journaling at the bottom in red, and the "Summer" title.

I'm feeling energized this evening, so maybe I'll work on another layout or project. Ali created a miniBook with her digital overlays awhile back & I loved her results. It's part digital, part paper scrapbooking, which sounds like a new challenge for me.

So thankful to be feeling great again. No more morning sickness, fatigue, etc. It feels so good to be scrapbooking & cardmaking & doing art again.

Christmas photos, Project 356, etc...

Happy New Year! I think we have finally unpacked/washed clothes/put toys away from our trip, and now we can relax :-) Mark and I each did a bunch of cleaning today, and our house is starting to feel "normal" again.

I wanted to post some photos of our family Christmas in Pullman for our West side family to see. Evan had a delightful 3rd Christmas. We all did, actually! Mark was so thoughtful and purchased a Making Memories Slice for me! Yay! I am so excited to play with my new toy! It's not very often that I get a toy for Christmas. I think the highlight for Mark had to be his power scissors I picked up for him. They came in handy when we needed to open Evan's new toys.


Mark's mom made the pj's Evan is wearing. Thanks Grandma Taylor!






Merry Christmas!




When we got to Puyallup, we were all a bit shocked by the amount of snow that had accumulated. I can't remember getting nine inches of snow when I was living there. Both my parents had "snow days" due to the weather.


I had to share this photo of Evan. I took it a couple of days before our trip. He had been running around with Mark and Roy (or as Evan would call him: "Roy Boy!"), and he was sweating like crazy! His hair was sticking straight up in the air because he was so hot :-)


A couple of days after Christmas, mom and dad Taylor, Kenneth, Zach, Mark, Evan, and I went to the train exhibit at the History Museum in Tacoma. We spent a couple of hours there, looking at five floors of trains. Evan really enjoyed the Lego train room. They even had Thomas the Tank Engine Lego train sets out for the kids to play with. He could build his own tracks, or play on a couple of tracks other kids had built. I was pretty impressed with how well he played with others. He doesn't have a ton of experience playing & sharing with other kids, but he didn't seem to mind giving and taking. Good job, kid-o!


The Tuesday before Christmas we went to the Children's Museum of Tacoma with my mom. Evan really enjoyed the open spaces to run and play, plus socializing with other kids. They had an art room where kids could use special paint to decorate an indoor window, and he could play in a make-believe kitchen area. Mostly he liked to run off his unlimited energy!




Evan will not wear a hat for Mark or me, but he found Grandpa's hat during our trip and wouldn't take it off! To add to his ensemble, he put on Grandma's red slippers :-)


While in Puyallup, I posted a recipe for Candy Cane Cookies. This is what they look like when they are done. Yummy!

On December 28th I started a challenge called Project 356. Basically you are taking a photo per day, and the kit has everything you need to put together an album with all those photos. My friend Bethany sent me her photos from days 1-4, and I thought I would post mine here for everyone to see. A lot of these photos aren't "professional" quality, but they are little glimpses of our everyday lives. Some of them have become favorites of mine already!


1/4/2009
Daddy playing the Wii; Evan pretending to play with him.


1/3/2009
Our beautiful little town covered in snow.


1/2/2009
Evan loves to sit in my office and watch his favorite move, Cars, while I work on scrapbook projects.


1/1/2009
Evan loves having his Daddy home on winter vacation. They spend a lot of one-on-one time together, doing everything from playing cars to tickling.


12/31/2008
Evan and Roy watching Mark fly his little helicopter around our apartment.


12/30/2008
Taking a break at Grandma's house to read some Little People lift-a-flap books on the floor.


12/29/2008
Mom's new favorite toy...her Wii Fit!


12/28/2009
Evan and his Aunti Abby.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Monday! Mark doesn't start school until the 12th, so he will be working during the upcoming week. It is snowing like crazy outside right now, so it looks like Evan and I will be having a stay-at-home day tomorrow. Maybe some scrapbooking during naptime? We can always hope...

Peace.